Twins Minor League Report (4/24): Palka's Power And Pitching Shutouts

To find out where and how it all went down in Sunday’s games, keep reading!

RED WINGS REPORT

Buffalo 3, Rochester 6

Box Score

Left-hander Pat Dean squared off against fellow lefty and old friend Scott Diamond at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York Sunday afternoon, and both were fantastic for most of the game. Diamond shut out the Red Wings for six innings, while Dean held the Bisons to just one run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out two.

Rochester tied the game in the seventh after Diamond’s night was done, as Adam Brett Walker led off the inning with a single and promptly stole second base for his first steal of the 2016 season. He was moved to third on a Darin Mastroianni ground- out, and then scored on a Wilfredo Tovar single to knot the game.

Brandon Kintzler was brought in to relieve Dean for the top of the eighth and retired the side 1-2-3, bringing Rochester up to bat. They broke the game open by sending nine men to the plate.

Jorge Polanco and Reynaldo Rodriguez started the inning with consecutive singles, but a bunt attempt by Juan Centeno erased Polanco at third. David Murphy picked up the slack by delivering an RBI single to put Rochester up. Later in the inning with two outs and the bases loaded, Tovar delivered a ground ball single to third base, and Centeno and Murphy scampered home after the throw was air-mailed to first for an error. A James Beresford triple to left field finished the scoring at five for the inning, and a comfortable 6-1 lead for Rochester.

J.R Graham was summoned for the ninth inning and made it somewhat interesting by allowing two runs on two hits and two walks, but he did finish out the game to improve the Red Wings to 7-10 on the season.

As a team Rochester pounded out thirteen hits on the day and were 4-12 with runners in scoring position. Beresford (3-5, 3B, 2 RBI), Polanco (2-3, BB), Rodriguez (2-4, R), Murphy (2-4, R, 2B, RBI), and Tovar (2-4, R, 2 RBI) led the offense with multiple hits on the day.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Birmingham 14, Chattanooga 13

Box Score

In Chattanooga Sunday afternoon, it was an absolute slugfest as the teams combined for twenty-seven runs on thirty-two hits in a nine-inning game. Both starters failed to pitch more than four innings, and for the Twins that starter was lefty David Hurlburt.

The first three innings were not bad, as he allowed two hits including a run-scoring triple in the first, but he did strike out the side; faced the minimum in the second aided by a caught stealing attempt with Stuart Turner behind the plate; and just a single in the third.

In the bottom half of those innings, the Lookouts offense put up three, one, and one respectively to put them out front early 5-1. The fourth is where Hurlburt ran into his trouble.

A lead-off home run was followed by a walk, three singles and a triple to put the Barons out front 6-5 before Hurlburt was able to finish the inning. On the game Hurlburt threw four innings, allowing the six runs on eight hits and a walk, with six strikeouts.

Chattanooga was quick to take back another big lead in the bottom half however, as they sent ten men up to bat before Engelb Vielma was erased at second-base on a steal attempt for the third out. Daniel Palka started the scoring with a single to plate D.J. Hicks, who had doubled earlier. A bases-loaded two-run double from Stuart Turner was followed by a two-run double from Joe Maloney and Vielma’s single before the caught stealing attempt brought in Maloney for six runs on the board in the frame and an 11-6 lead.

Brett Lee came on in relief of Hurlburt for the fifth and gave three of those runs back on a single, an RBI double, a walk and a wild pitch; the rally was also aided by a throwing error from third-baseman T.J. White. Only one of those runs was earned.

A bases-loaded groundout from White made the score 12-9 heading into the sixth, which was the only clean inning (no runs) of the game.

Birmingham tied it the seventh against Corey Williams out for his second inning of work. A single, hit-by-pitch, and walk around a strikeout loaded the bases and brought in Brandon Peterson. He got two strikeouts to finish the three outs, but they were around a bases clearing double for the tying three runs and the runs were charged to Williams.

A solo-home run against Peterson put the Barons out front for good in the eighth, and they added a needed insurance run in the ninth against J.T. Chargois, who had come in to the day having pitched five perfect innings to start his season. He was greeted by a lead-off double, his first base runner of the year, and a sacrifice bunt and groundout led to his first run allowed. A single and groundout later marked his first appearance without a strikeout, and Chattanooga was down 14-12 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

As could be expected, the Lokouts did all they could to keep the game going, or to end it with one swing. A two-out double from Palka scored Hicks who had singled earlier, and brought in Mitch Garver as a pinch-hitter with the tying run in scoring position. On a 2-2 pitch he struck out swinging to end the game with a loss for the home team, but it was an exciting game all the way through for the three-thousand-plus fans in attendance at AT&T Field.

Palka and Harrison each hit their second home runs of the season for the Lookouts and were 4-4 and 3-5 respectively, driving in six runs between them. Palka added two doubles and two walks, reaching base in all six of his plate appearances. Vielma (2-6, R, 3B, RBI), Levi Michael (2-5, 2 R’s, 2BB), and Hicks (2-6, 2 R’s, 2B) each had multiple hits at the top of the order, and Turner and Maloney each had 2 RBIs in the offensive explosion for the Lookouts.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Charlotte 0, Fort Myers 2

Box Score

While there was a ton of offense in Chattanooga, Fort Myers saw another dominating pitching performance from one of their starters.

On this day, it was left-hander Randy Rosario dominating an opposing lineup for the Miracle.

Rosario allowed base-runners in each of his six-plus innings except the fifth, but stranded all of them as Charlotte was 0-6 with runners in scoring position against him, leaving seven men on base for the game in the process.

Luke Bard came on to finish the seventh and added a scoreless eighth. Todd Van Steensel was summoned for the ninth inning and his second save opportunity on the year. He retired the Stone Crabs in order for his second save, and helped improve Rosario to 2-1 on the season along with a 1.02 ERA that is good for second on the team behind Felix Jorge at 0.92.

The Miracle’s two runs came on a home run from the rehabbing Danny Santana, and he also scored the other on a single from Alex Real. Santana was 2-4 on the game for his first two hits of his rehab assignment. The only other hit was a single from Chad Christensen, who also drew the only walk on the day for the Miracle. It was more than enough to support the Miracle pitchers who have been outstanding to begin the year and the team improved to 10-8.

In total, each of the Miracle’s six starters have now stared three games. This includes Stephen Gonsalves (1-1, 1.89 ERA), Kohl Stewart (1-0, 2.60 ERA), Tyler Jay (1-1, 3.60 ERA), Jorge (1-1, 0.92 ERA), Keaton Steele (0-2, 3.24 ERA), and Rosario (2-1, 1.02 ERA). Collectively they’ve thrown 105.1 innings, allowing just 25 earned runs on 72 hits and 26 walks with 98 K’s; that’s good for a spectacular 2.14 ERA.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 9, Clinton 0

Box Score

The Cedar Rapids Kernels imitated the good parts of each of the Chattanooga and Fort Myers games, as they also exploded for sixteen hits on offense and shut out their opponent on pitching and defense.

The Kernels put crooked numbers on the scoreboard in each of the second, third, and eighth innings; that included seven singles, a double, and triple for eight of their nine runs. They added a single run in the fifth on an RBI knock from Rafael Valera. Three wild pitches in the eighth inning aided in putting the Kernels final numbers on the board.

Cedar Rapids got production throughout the lineup as seven of the nine hitters collected multiple hits, with A.J. Murray and Max Murphy in the three and four spots as the only ones without hits, but Murray did have an RBI and Murphy scored two runs. Valera led the team with two RBIs and the two extra-base hits came from Zander Wiel who was 4-5 with double, triple, one RBI, and two runs scored.

Taking the mound for the away team was Cody Stashak; he scattered four hits and two walks in his six innings, striking out four along the way. Michael Theofanopoulos pitched a scoreless seventh, walking one and striking out one. Miles Nordgren finished the final two innings, allowing just one hit with one strikeout. The LumberKings lineup was a combined 5-30 on the game, were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six. In comparison, Cedar Rapids was 7-19 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.

Stashak improved to 2-0, winning both of his starts so far, and he sports a 1.13 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in his sixteen innings for the Kernels.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – 3-way tie:

• Cody Stashak, Cedar Rapids Kernels (6.0 IP, 0 R’s, 4 H’s, 2 BB, 4 K’s)
  
• Randy Rosario, Fort Myers Miracle (6.1 IP, 0 R’s, 6 H’s, 2 K’s)
  
• Pat Dean, Rochester Red Wings (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H’s, 2 K’s)
  

Hitter of the Day – Danial Palka, Chattanooga Lookouts (4-4, 2 R’s, 2 2B’s, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB’s)

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester – Scheduled day off.

Chattanooga @ Mississippi (7:00PM CST) – RHP D.J. Baxendale (1-1, 3.27 ERA)

Fort Myers – Scheduled day off.

Cedar Rapids – Scheduled day off.

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games.